Luxembourg, 11/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Transport Council failed to reach agreement on the proposal modifying the "Eurovignette" directive on the taxation of heavy goods vehicles using the infrastructures of the trans-European network, in Luxembourg on Friday. Having carried out a tour de table, the Presidency was forced to concede that there was no chance of reaching agreement on its compromise text. This view was entirely shared by the Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, who indicated that the dossier will still need much discussion within the Council working groups.
"There is still a considerable amount of work to be done", and its it not possible to reach agreement "at this stage", said the Irish Presidency after the discussions. The Presidency even felt "that we have gone backwards rather than forwards" on this dossier, at this Council. This is largely due to the tricky question of how to allocate revenue from road tolls, which still divides the Member States into two camps: those which support the Commission's proposal to spend this income solely on transport infrastructure, and those who feel it should be up to the Member States how to spend it. Once again, the Presidency failed to break the deadlock.
"I can see more difficulties today than before", said Ms de Palacio, adding that "things on which we had agreed have now been called back in to question", such as the option of making tolls higher in certain areas, and how to calculate costs. "The discussion showed more disagreement than agreement", she told the press, adding that an agreement was "impossible at this stage". However, Ms de Palacio voiced her wishes to conclude an agreement on the dossier at her next (and last) Transport Council, in October.